Customer Reviews

Supernatural : War of the Sons

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a long time fan of the show, I was never too sure about the tie-in books, etc. I decided to pick this one up to get me through till the season starts but instead I tore through it in two days. To me, it was like watching a very good episode of the show. The dialogue, descriptions, and characterization were spot on in my opinion, I could hear and see it happening in my head just as it would on TV. The time-travel storyline is a tough sell, and I had my doubts, but I think this book pulled it off more smoothly than the show did last season. Hopefully the two writers pen another one, I'll be first in line.

Though the authors claim to be both fans and assistants to the show, the writing and characterization of the Winchester brothers makes that hard to believe. A Dean Winchester who in no way takes care of his brother but instead leaves Sam to 'pretty much fend for himself' a Sam Winchester who would in any way view Dean as little more then a random, useless jerk who is a irritant at best and a stupid, unintelligent moron ('Dean's not the smartest of the Winchesters') doesn't exist in the actual canon of the show, even under Sera Gamble's increasingly idiotic take.

The fact that the authors show obvious contempt for both the show's canon and the shows heroes' intelligence, bond and love for each other make this a useless and frankly insulting entry to the Supernatural canon that would best be forgotten

This story is supposed to be set after the S5 episode "My Bloody Valentine"--and presumably before the next episode after that--but it didn't feel like it for a second.

I don't know if the authors had the chance to know what they were dealing with, but like most of the tie-ins the authors seem strangely to ignore the canon events the boys have supposedly just experienced and thus sabotage their characterization. If this story truly followed the canon it is supposed to, Dean and Sam have just been ambushed by Famine, whose influence caused Sam to relapse on demon blood again in a pretty horrifying way for the first time since starting the Apocalypse. His attempts to overcome his demon blood addiction were sabotaged and he's just been through a hellish withdrawal...possibly the first full withdrawal he's seen through. As for Dean, it's become increasingly clear through the first part of the season that Dean is finally reaching the limits of his endurance and is white-knuckling it. He can't trust Sam any longer; their relationship was shaken to its foundations by the events of the end of S4 and by the changes that have taken place in Sam since S3 and Sam's failure to recognize and take responsibility for and address the personal offenses he's committed against Dean. Dean is weighed down with an immense sense of responsibility as Michael's potential vessel and a hunter who knows exactly how bad things can get and is terrified for himself, Sam, and the world at large. Their attempts to date to find a solution to the Lucifer problem have failed catastrophically, most recently resulting in the deaths of Jo and Ellen Harvelle. Sam may have every intention of resisting Lucifer, and Dean still loves Sam deeply, but Dean knows his brother and after what he's seen (in The End and in Sam's behavior), he (as comes out in "Point of No Return") has lost any confidence that Sam can or will resist Lucifer. Bobby is crippled and sunk deep in self-pity. Castiel is hardly dependable, and Dean can never be sure what his agenda is. Ultimately, Dean is on his own to save Sam and the world and stop Satan, and saying yes to Michael may be the only way to save billions of people even if both he and Sam will be sacrificed. And in all justice to the character, Dean would still be dealing with nightmares and flashbacks and other aftermath of Hell. By the end of MBV, Dean is clearly losing it, deeply depressed and despairing, his coping mechanisms overloaded, emotionally shut down, no longer functioning, hardly eating or sleeping and drinking far more than he should.

But there is little hint of any of that in this book, though it would be compelling material and is vital to make the characters remotely consistent with canon at that point in the show. Sam was given short shrift in canon, and though this book tries to make him sympathetic and canon should have done far more with Sam's character through S5, the Sam of this book bears little to no resemblance to the S5 Sam we saw in canon so it's hard to give him any credibility. And then there's Dean, who is portrayed almost as a caricature of himself in S1, chasing skirt and being an overbearing jerk with no hint of the growth he showed in canon since then and the wisdom he seemed to gain through his deal and time in Hell. Getting with anybody was the last thing on Dean's mind after MBV, and he was so subdued that the wisecracking and such in the book just seemed cartoonish in comparison with what the characterization should have been. Then too, I take umbrage at the book's portrayal of Dean as overbearing towards Sam and someone who would deliberately allow himself to get drunk on a hunt. And the issues between the boys are pretty much ignored and play no role in the story, which is a glaring omission especially in several moments of the story where these issues should have set both of the boys off.

Then there are the other inconsistencies. The authors conveniently forget that Sam and Dean know by this point that even if they died or tried to kill themselves, they'd simply be resurrected to play their part. (It was foolish to write this into canon, as that obliterates the credibility of any threat to the boys' lives, but that's still canon.) Salt has never stopped or done significant damage to demons in the show. Demons trapped in a Devils' Trap cannot just fly off free...they either remain trapped and powerless until the trap is broken or they are exorcised or destroyed by Sam's power. And those are just a few examples.

The plot of this story seemed pretty incoherent and I have to admit that after three different time travel episodes this just fell flat. And it didn't help that the authors had no room to maneuver as the status quo had to be maintained in the end. So this book was pretty disappointing.

First of all, I am not really into tie-in novels that go along with TV shows. I am a fan of this show, and decided to give this novel a try.

I must say that I was very pleased with the way that the characters were kept true to the series. The dialog, mannerism, everything about them was pretty on target. Of course, when the writers have real world experience with this, that helps.

I did not care for the way the story ran its course, but it did keep my interest. I am still not sold on reading more books in this series just yet, but this book will at least cause me to keep my eyes open to the possibility.

I bought the book and read close to about six chapters, it started out dull so I set it aside and sort of forgot about it. When I was granted some spare time I gave it another try. It turned into such a great tale that I could not put it down. The suspense amazing. Characters were depicted like so, and plot was well written. I was able to complete it in one long day. Which felt like a couple of hours that's how entertained I was.

I am a true Supernatural fan, never missed an episode. This was my first novel, I've read all Season Companion books and found these to be nice but the book was by far better! I have purchased a few more and hope that they too are as good or better.

If your a fan I highly recommend this book.

Just once, it would be nice if publishers solicited fans of a show to write a book about it. There were way too many inconsistincies with this novel. Dean is portrayed as a stupid roughneck. Sam is possesed, which is impossible given that his protection against it is TATOOED to his chest. There were too many strings left untied, namely the big secret Sam discovered, but didn't tell Dean about, but low and behold Dean didn't act surprised when it came to light, he acted in fact, like Sam had told him from the beginning.

By far the worst novel published in this line of books. The authors care nothing about the show and it is painfully evident.

I really enjoyed this book because there was lots of comedy inserted into serious situations. That kept the book from getting too bogged down/heavy. The book referenced TV show facts accurately and frequently. It held my attention from cover to cover; I didn't want to put it down.

Love this book, i think any supernatural fan would. you can picture it so clearly, and the characters are so sam and dean!

I was surprised to see the negative reviews of the book. Maybe I just buy into marketing too easily, but I'd read that the authors both work for the show and it really came across in the dialogue and story they laid out. I know that the tie-ins are to be taken with a grain of salt when it comes to the mythology, but to me this book added to season 5. It felt like an episode they would have filmed if they'd had the time and budget to do so and it was fun to experience what the show could do if it had fewer restraints. Personally, I hope they get more people connected to the show to write the future tie-ins!

Worse of the tie-in books yet. It's painful to read these people being called Winchesters and acting so out of character. They're just *off* and behaving in ways that the real Sam and Dean wouldn't. These are not the Winchesters you're looking for. Try any of the other tie-in books, or put in the DVD's.